Canada's NDP would look at emissions in deciding on pipelines

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

OTTAWA, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Canada's New Democratic Party would take greenhouse gas emissions into account in deciding whether projects like TransCanada Corp's Energy East pipeline should be allowed to proceed, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair said on Wednesday.

Mulcair, whose party is running neck and neck with the governing Conservatives ahead of the Oct 19 election, said the NDP would completely revamp the way projects are assessed, to look at effects on climate change.

"An NDP government will bring in a credible, thorough environmental assessment process that will include measuring greenhouse gas emissions," he said.

"We will start the process over again with a project like Energy East and find out whether or not it can be accomplished safely for the environment and for the economy."

Mulcair has pointed to the C$12 billion ($9.2 billion) project, designed to ship 1.1 million barrels a day of crude oil from Alberta to Canada's East Coast for refining and possible exporting, as a model plan since it would keep jobs in Canada.

But he also told L'Actualite magazine last month that it could not be approved under the current assessment system.